WASHINGTON, May 24 (Xinhua) — U.S. President Barack Obama “fully supports” South Korea’s response to the sinking of one of its warships, the White House said Monday.
“U.S. support for South Korea’s defense is unequivocal, and the president has directed his military commanders to coordinate closely with their Republic of Korea counterparts to ensure readiness and to deter future aggression,” the White House said.
The South Korean government said Monday it will hold military drills aimed at deterring what it calls further aggression by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and will put on hold all exchanges and trade with Pyongyang.
A few hours earlier, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said his country will resort to self-defense measures in case of further military provocation from Pyongyang over the sinking of the South Korean warship in late March, which killed 46 sailors near a disputed maritime border between the two countries.
International investigators have earlier concluded in Seoul that the South Korean navy warship was torpedoed by a DPRK submarine and the torpedo was manufactured in the DPRK.
Condemning the DPRK for violating the United Nations Charter and the Korean War Armistice Agreement, Lee said his government will refer the incident to the UN Security Council.
However, the DPRK National Defense Commission rejected as a “fabrication” the South Korean claims that its warship was torpedoed by a DPRK submarine, the DPRK’s KCNA news agency reported.
It (South Korea) finally announced the results of the joint investigation based on a sheer fabrication, which assert that the warship was sunken by our torpedo attack, in a bid to mislead the public opinion,” the KCNA quoted a spokesman for the National Defense Commission as saying.
The spokesman also warned that the DPRK will take tough countermeasures, including an all-out war if new sanctions are imposed on the country.
Also on Monday, the DPRK warned that if South Korea installs propaganda loudspeakers along the border line, the DPRK military would fire at and destroy them.
According to the KCNA, the commander of forces of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) in the central sector of the front issued an open warning to the South Korean authorities that if the South refused to remove the anti-DPRK posters and loudspeakers set up along the Military Demarcation Line, the KPA would “start the firing of direct sighting shots to destroy them.”
The commander stressed that if South Korea continued challenging the DPRK with such moves, the KPA will “eliminate the root cause of the provocations with a stronger physical strike.”
The two Koreas reached a deal in June 2004 that obliges the two sides to stop all propaganda campaigns against each other, including using loudspeaker broadcasting and slogan boards, from Aug. 15 of that year.
But since the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan, tensions have notably escalated between the two countries.
Related:
S Korea takes punitive measures against DPRK over warship sinking
SEOUL, May 24 (Xinhua) — South Korea unveiled Monday a series of punitive measures against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) over the sinking of a South Korean naval warship.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak warned in a nationally televised speech that the country will resort to measures of self- defense if the DPRK further wages aggression, saying Pyongyang’s alleged sinking of its 1,200-ton corvette Cheonan in late March resulted from a surprise torpedo attack. Full story
S Korea to resort to self-defense measures against further DPRK provocations
SEOUL, May 24 (Xinhua) — South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Monday his country will resort to measures of self-defense in case of further military provocation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), calling Pyongyang’s alleged sinking of its warship in late March work of a surprise torpedo attack.
“North Korea (DPRK) will pay a price corresponding to its provocative acts. I will continue to take stern measures to hold the North accountable,” Lee said in a nationally televised speech to the public, a few days after an international team of experts announced that South Korea’s 1,200-ton corvette Cheonan was torpedoed by its wartime rival, killing 46 sailors. Full story
S Korea to take ship sinking case to UN Security Council
SEOUL, May 23 (Xinhua) — South Korea is planning to seek an additional resolution on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at the United Nations Security Council, following the sinking of South Korea’s warship Cheonan in March, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Sunday quoting officials here.
“We are focusing on diplomatic means of punishment as we found out that existing sanctions and resolutions are not enough,” a senior government official told Yonhap News Agency. “It is time to decide whether we go over to another step.” Full story
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